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After Solyndra, GOP turns on Lightsquared

GOP representatives used LightSquared’s name interchangeably with Solyndra. |
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The same day, another shoe dropped.

Rep. Ralph Hall (R-Texas), chairman of the House Science and Technology Committee, wrote to the White House along with several other Republicans on the panel and asked for documents detailing any interaction with or on behalf of LightSquared.

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“As with the LightSquared project, questions about the Solyndra deal include whether Solyndra wasn’t scrutinized closely because a major investor in the business was a major fundraiser for the president’s 2008 campaign,” Hall and the other lawmakers wrote. “While some may call it a coincidence, we remain skeptical that shortly after two separate sets of meetings and meeting requests one year apart, LightSquared employees made five-figure donations to the Democratic Party.”

The strongest tie that binds the two companies may be campaign contributions from top executives at both LightSquared and Solyndra to the Democratic Party.

George Kaiser, an Oklahoma oil billionaire and “bundler” of campaign donations for Obama, is one of the principal backers of Solyndra. Republicans allege that that influenced the White House to play politics with taxpayer money, giving Solyndra a loan after running roughshod over legal steps that could have raised red flags about the energy company.

LightSquared’s backer, Phil Falcone, head of hedge fund Harbinger Capital, and CEO Sanjiv Ahuja have also donated to Dem campaigns. Falcone gave $30,400 to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 2009 and Ahuja contributed the same amount to the Democratic National Committee in 2010.
In a recent interview with POLITICO, Falcone expressed frustration at having to battle Republicans.

“I’m a registered Republican,” he said, adding that he had donated more to GOP candidates than Democrats. Ahuja, who gave $30,400 to the Republican National Party in 2009, also rejected any notion that his donations were an attempt to pay for political favoritism in an interview.

LightSquared hopes to become the nation’s first wholesale provider of wireless broadband through an integrated satellite and terrestrial network, bringing wireless Internet to 260 million people by the end of 2015. Last January the company received a waiver from the FCC, which would provide more flexibility in how it could sell its spectrum boosting the company’s commercial viability.

However, concerns from GPS providers, and the aviation and defense industries about possible interference from LightSquared technology have delayed deployment of the network, led the FCC and Commerce Department to ask for additional testing, and left the company as the focus a series of congressional hearings.

Critics say the January waiver aggravated the interference problem by fundamentally changing LightSquared’s operation plans. LightSquared squarely rejects that claim saying one has nothing to do with the other.

FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski said Thursday that the review process wasn’t impacted by politics. “Our process has been and will be fact-based, engineering based, inclusive, involving all stakeholders," Genachowski said, when asked by reporters whether the FCC favored LightSquared. "That’s what we have done and that’s what we will continue to do.”

Some observers say trying to tie LightSquared to Solyndra is about dragging Obama down.

“Those attacks are not targeted at LightSquared,” said Gigi Sohn, president of the consumer advocacy group Public Knowledge. “It’s all about beating up on Obama, and less about the merits of their proposal.”

While Democrats are supportive of LightSquared’s bid to enter the wireless market, they aren’t rushing to defend the company or the administration and have concerns about the technical challenges.

Rep. Jerry McNerney (D-Calif.), a member of the House Science and Technology panel “has consistently stated that while there are important benefits that come from enhanced broadband services, they shouldn’t come at the expense of public safety, and a lot of unanswered questions remain about LightSquared’s broadband proposal,” Nick Holder, the lawmakers chief of staff, wrote in an email. “We need to be comfortable that this new technology won’t interfere with public safety before moving forward.”

Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House Communications and Technology Subcommittee, wrote the FCC and the National Telecommunications Information Administration on Wednesday expressing hope that a technical solution can be found but cautioned against moving forward without it.

“While I applaud the commission’s efforts to expand the deployment of wireless broadband, it should not be done at the expense of national and homeland security, public safety and the broader economy,” she wrote.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 5:39 a.m. on September 23, 2011.

Have now blown the whistle on how the White House pressured them to alter their congressional testimony and play down concerns about LightSquared's threat to military communications.

The FCC’s fast tracking of LightSquared raises questions about whether the government was rushing this project at the expense of all kinds of other things, including national security and everyone who uses GPS, from agriculture to emergency medical technicians.

The Obama FCC took the lead in intervening on the donor, billionaire hedge fund manster Philip Falcone’s, behalf and granting his company LightSquared one of those coveted Obama waivers from existing law.

I was wondering when Politico was going to report on this? Of course they are a week late like usual and tried their hardest to ignore the story as long as they could. As usual the liberal media is trying to blame Republicans for investigating these crooked Chicago Way type Political deals......

Funny, lightSquared used to be called Skyterra, in 2005 Barack Obama purchased $50,000 dollars in Skyterra stock, at that time the company was run by his friends and fundraisers. Fast forward to where we are with LightSquared and we see a company that is owned by a major Obama Bundler Has George Soros as an investor and has been acused of tampering with two separate witnesses testimony while trying to fast track the crooked deal like they did with Solyndra.....This is a Republican plot? Please...

This article is bizarre and is a good example of why Republicans in Washington are screwed up. A company led by Republicans that give to Republicans is suspect because it is applying to a federal agency for a permit to expand competition and services in a vital technology area? The fact that Michelle Bachmann opposes LightSquared is evidence enough for me that they must be doing something right. Given her odd statements lately about the HPV vaccine based on a non-existent mother that she can't identify and her past statements that Obama is setting up reeducation camps for dissident Americans and that Members of the U.S. House should be investigated for treason is evidence she's hearing voices on a channel the rest of us don't get. Last night she said she wants to eliminate all federal taxes? How will our troops get paid and get the weapons they need to defend themselves in Afghanistan if the DOD has no public dollars? If Congressman Issa thinks LightSquared is a national priority, maybe Speaker Boehner should appoint a Chairman that doesn't want to waste public tax dollars investigating companies trying to create jobs in an economy that desperately needs jobs. WAKE UP Congressman Issa! America needs jobs. Not "investigations" intended to score political points and inhibit economic growth.

Eliza - a lesson in journalism. You hid key information as best you could trying to cover up for your man Obama. See below. Please put this information up front so we can do objective analysis.

WaPo: "The Center for Public Integrity reported that senior White House officials took meetings with LightSquared officials on the same day that company CEO Sanjiv Ahuja gave $30,400 in campaign donations to the Democratic Party, according to e-mails obtained by the organization."

"Funny, lightSquared used to be called Skyterra, in 2005 Barack Obama purchased bought $50,000 dollars in Skyterra stock, at that time the company was run by his friends and fundraisers. Fast forward to where we are with LightSquared and we see a company that is owned by a major Obama Bundler Has George Soros as an investor and has been acused of tampering with witness testimony while trying to fast track the crooked deal like they did with Solyndra.....This is a Republican plot? Please... "

Yeah - and why isn't this info in the article? Perfect example of selective journalism.

I believe this company took Obama for a ride right in his face...while they shook his hand , I believe they knew they were screwing him.........you don't give a 1/2 billion to anyone before you do an audit and before you know what is going on with this company in details.....Germany subsidized Volkswagen....but Volkswagen was selling all the time......and they knew their finances.....What in my opinion idiots do they have Obama surrounded with? I am just a little old lady from Pasedena....and I would never loan a penny , that belongs to the taxpayer, unless I knew the company inside and out...and I would n't be surprised if Biden had his hand in it somehow.....I believe Obama chose the wrong guy in Biden....but then he chose many wrong guys...because the man in my opinion has no clue.....Romney has a better business head than Obama has anytime...anytime...

I believe this company took Obama for a ride right in his face...while they shook his hand , I believe they knew they were screwing him.........you don't give a 1/2 billion to anyone before you do an audit and before you know what is going on with this company in details.....Germany subsidized Volkswagen....but Volkswagen was selling all the time......and they knew their finances.....What in my opinion idiots do they have Obama surrounded with? I am just a little old lady from Pasedena....and I would never loan a penny , that belongs to the taxpayer, unless I knew the company inside and out...and I would n't be surprised if Biden had his hand in it somehow.....I believe Obama chose the wrong guy in Biden....but then he chose many wrong guys...because the man in my opinion has no clue.....Romney has a better business head than Obama has anytime...anytime...

My advice to Republicans would be to not let this alone. Solyndra and LightSquared are EXACTLY what is wrong with the federal government slinging our tax monies into their crony projects like it was $16 muffins.

CUT the spending. And if malfeasance is found, fire, indict, try and if found guilty jail.

Enough of letting these thieves, like Charlie Rangle go free, and hanging a portrait as a monument to his theft in the House. Time to clean up. And if youse ain't sheriff enough, then step aside.

"LightSquared is 100 percent privately funded and has not asked, nor will ask, for public money for our network,” Jeff Carlisle, LightSquared’s head of regulatory and public affairs, told POLITICO. “Unlike Solyndra, LightSquared has not asked for a dime of government money for this plan, which is based on a Federal Communications Commission authorization received in 2005.”

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Aren't asking for money, but seem to like to pay off the 0 regime who has tried to tamper with two seperate witnesses with the sole purpose of getting the go ahead for lightsquard's 4G system even though it very may well block GPS signals used by air planes and the military for guidance.

The question facing America is Do you want Chicago politics to become US politics?